Deicide, Rotting Christ, Aeternus, Ancient Rites
and Behemoth
Venue: London Astoria 2, London, England
Date: Sunday, February 14, 1999
Polish band Behemoth opened up the show... Lost
contact with them since 'From The Pagan Vastlands' release.
That was years ago. No more makeups for them.
Plain-clothed, but high-spirited. Too sad the British audience are unfamiliar
with their music. Same goes to Ancient Rites. Which in fact VERY popular
amongst Asia underground circles, but not here. They delivered unique Black
Metal with plain attitude. No fuck yous, no hatreds, just plain Black Metal
musicians doing their stuff on stage. Chanting some memorable(!) words
during the set didn't help either.
The crowds were too passive, or to ignorance.
But both of the bands deserve respects and they've been long enough in
the Black Metal scene they can even be called veterans!
Theys
Gunther of Ancient Rites
Next, Aeternus stormed the stage. This band is for the BM heads who still live in the 1993. Straightforward Black Metal. Fast, but terribly unlistenable. No, they are nothing like Marduk (speed-wise) and everything seemed to be a mess. Their poorly corpse-painted faces added the misery.
Aeternus, noise-makers..???
Rotting Christ up next. I was a massive fan of
their innovative 'Thy MIghty Contract' album. 'Passage To Arcturo' is also
a good album but they eventually play nothing from the old albums. The
oldest track was taken from the 'Non-Serviam' album making their old fans
(me alike!) feeling betrayed. They choose to play newer stuff which is
indeed boring. And, no. They did not keep up the tradition. The newer albums
seem to lose everything.
Rotting
Christ, growing old and slow...
They lost the touch of creativity. The harmony
of melody and aggressiveness of 'Thy Mighty Contract' is long gone. No
nail-biting speed songs were played. By playing 'Among Two Storms' or 'A
Dead Poem' can never regain their old fans' interest...And they are certainly
shouldn't be on the list because their playlist simply sucks!
Glen
Benton.God of the gods. Father of Blasphemous Art of Destruction.
The ONLY massacre of the day. the almighty Deicide.
They appeared with HUGE response. Of course, even the tiyle of the fest
suits their music. Glen Benton speaks up with the most anti-mainstream
manner, "We'll never sell out on you guys!"..."We ain't Metallica,
we're not going to kiss anyone's fat ass just for some paychecks!"..and
yes indeed they aren't gonna. They open up the chaosset with the storming
'When Satan Rules His World' followed by all-around MASSIVE pogo-ing and
headbanging throughout the entire Astoria! Don't even think abouttaking
pictures at the moment..the show is too important to be missed! Blastbeats
and 10-tonne heavy riffs and crazy growls and sometimes with added BM-ish
screams, they move further with the ultimate rendition of 'Slave
To The Cross'. No magic moment here...every single moment is 'magick' here.
They then storm out the new songs with the likes of 'Father's Baker'
and 'Serpents Of The Light'. As for closing the amazing powerful set, the
American quartet blast through the infamous 'Sacrificial Suicide' and finally
closing down with the warp-speed 'Dead By Dawn'...
The set finally closes... just wish Morbid Angel were there to observe the guttural attack, orally and musically from the Floridian quartet. Not a nonsense melodic/romantic evening out. They simply kill..! And blapshemous as fuck..!
Growing old and steadier...
Deicide*****
Rotting Christ*
Aeternus**
Ancient Rites****
Behemoth***